When your heart stops beating, you'll keep tweeting

Receiving one last message from a loved one who has passed can provide comfort and closure. People used to leave these last letters, video, or audio messages with a friend, family member, or estates lawyer.

CNN reported recently that there are companies that enable you to send messages through social media tools after you die. DeadSocial is a free service that has several options available to allow you to send out your final words. You can send out one final message, or a series of messages on specific dates, such as an anniversary or a birthday. It can also release unseen videos or audio messages. For now, all DeadSocial messages that are released are public, but the company plans to provide an option for sending private messages. As you would when you write a will, you must select an executor. The executor advises the company when you have died, so your messages can start to be released.

Another company, LivesOn, is developing a service that tweets for you after you die. The Twitter tool monitors your specific habits and syntax and replicates your style and voice. The creator of the service is an advertising agency, called the Lean Mean Fighting Machine.

To those who think that these uses for social media are strange, a partner at Lean Mean Fighting Machine has this to say: “the afterlife is not a new idea, it’s been around for quite a long time with all the different versions of heaven and hell. To me this isn’t any stranger than any of those. In fact, it might be less strange.”